Da-Painter

We have used many other Shore Excursion companies, not just NCL,  just Google, and find them. On our European all day excursions, instead of sitting on a bus with 50 other people for 8 hours, we would be in a van with 5 or 10 other folks. A lot faster doing the identical excursion, as no stopping for the ***** shops as you have with NCL, you get in and out of attractions faster, instead of waiting for other folks who get lost and not back to the bus on time. NCL try's to scare you and tell you if you do not get back in time, you will be left. But the other companies offering shore excursions, would generally shave a few hours off the same shore excursion, as well as be a lot cheaper, so there is no worry about getting back on time.

We did the New Zealand/Australia cruise last Jan/Feb, the internet on the ship was virtually non-existent. Took 20 minutes to pull up my Yahoo Mail, but could never get any further then that. The guy in the Internet Cafe, he did not work for NCL, but the company that handled the internet, told me it was worthless on that cruise. We just connected at the ports that we arrived at. Our internet was included free, so no $$$$ lost. Just a waste of time trying to use it. Be prepared for that. 

If you place a review on NCL's website, and the review points out a lot of problems with an excursion, NCL will not post it. I have had a few terrible excursions with NCL (20+ cruises), made a truthful review, but bad reviews are not posted. It's also stated in their T & C.

As an NCL cruiser, here's what is going on currently on Maui. Residents from the Lahaina area are trying to be evacuated out of the area, there is no power, water, little to no cell service, roads are impassable, search is ongoing for human remains. People are being housed in Kihei, Kahului, and all other areas into shelters. Roads are congested, and the emphasis is upon assisting all residents. It is not the right time to bring in 2,000 new visitors, as many excursions will not be operating, large busses are used to transport residents around the island. We all learned the impact of the fires Wednesday morning, and everyone on the island has been volunteering to assist with shelters, food, transportation, medical care, etc.  Walmart, for the first few nights allowed folks without a room to sleep in, to use their parking lot to sleep in their cars. Over 15,000 visitors have flown home since Wednesday, over 2,200 houses/buildings have been destroyed, displacing over 4,500 people. We need to find homes for these folks now. There already is a tremendous housing shortage on the islands, so temporary shelters are where we are trying to put folks right now. With this going on, the island can not support an additional influx of visitors, nor would they be able to travel around the island. If you wish to make a donation, I suggest to the American Red Cross, and designate the contribution to the Maui Fire Relief Fund, so the money can assist our problems on Maui. Aloha.

The ships water is just as good, or not better because of the filtration system. But if you believe you are getting better water, and creating more useless plastic for the environment, go for it. 

They are in business to make $$$, and over charge for this,  and any regard for the environment is not an issue for NCL. 

Any tip you leave does not go specifically to those that served you.

It goes into the big tip jar of NCL, who will not tell you how it is disbursed. 

You pay your gratuities through the daily service charges. If you think you need to tip, go ahead, but I am already paying those gratuities. 

You should be there in the early morning, when they take most of the coins out of the machine, move the dollar bills back, so they never reach the edge. Then watch all the suckers play it. 

Your daily Service Charge includes gratuities for the bars, restaurants, etc. 

If you leave additional gratuities on your bar bills, tabs, etc., it does not go directly to those who were assisting you, it goes into the big gratuities pot of NCL, which, of course, is no disclosure  how this is distributed to employees. If it like most big corporations, the majority goes to the big shots, and those supervisors in charge of employees. And then a pittance ends up with the folks who are serving you, doing all the work.

We leave cash tips, hopefully they can slip that into their pockets, and end there, we do not ever really know, what happens after that.

Do not prepay your gratuities, if your cruise gets cancelled, good luck when you will receive a refund of that $$$$. 

58 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

so wonderful! Hopefully I can go on my cruise on 1/22...if not I will rebook, I'm here to support NCL 😄 

Hopefully, you will find out if its been cancelled or not, on 1/21. Way to go NCL, how pathetic. 

On 12/28/2020 at 12:36 PM, Travelling2Some said:

I see your point (and the OP can speak for himself, obviously) but I think much depends on individual habits.  Often a Baltic cruise involves extensive land arrangements for people who have the time (retired, like us - yay!).  We only visit the same locations once (hey, it's a big world and we're not so young!)  I plan our journeys meticulously and we stay in each place as long as it takes to see everything that interests us.  I enjoy this planning.  It's actually a bit of a hobby BUT I don't want to waste my efforts either.  I've had to cancel 3 trips now due to COVID and I can tell you that cancelling/refunding every hotel, tour and flight was a freakin' part time job, lol.  I agree that the odds are decent that we might be able to travel internationally this summer or fall.  However, I would have to start making those reservations and laying out money NOW in order to get exactly the arrangements I want (Yup, I'm picky cause I'm never going back) and I am reluctant to commit the effort to a trip that may not happen.  So, long story short, if it was JUST the cruise I'd take a chance on things working out by then, but there are too many other "moving parts".

If we were going on the cruise we would be booking hotels in Copenhagen for a week before the cruise, to explore, there are airplane flights to book, pet sitters, excursions in each port that we have time on our own to explore. We would be spending 2 days in St Petersburg, and how secure are the tour excursion folks going to be toward coronavirus safety??? we have to put trust into this issue, and Russia does not have a reputation that we feel confident about. I concur with what Traveling2Some has to say.

We had a trip planned to the Galapagos Islands last April, 21 days in Peru, Ecuador, trains, multiple hotels, Machu Picchu tickets, etc., which all had to be cancelled. I just recently received my refund for some of these items. It was a lot of work to plan, and a lot of work to cancel everything. Guayaquil Ecuador, where we were planning to stay and visit, had one of the worst death tolls in Ecuador. 

I do not see our safety is secured enough at this time keeping from getting the coronavirus a 2nd time, yes, my wife and I each got it last March, and do not want to go through that again. 

We are going to Hawaii in 10 days, we also went back in October, but with the requirement of having a negative coronavirus test to go, at least I feel the majority of folks on the flight will be safe to be with, and find folks in Hawaii are smart enough to wear a mask, to also stay safe. 

We plan our vacations years out, and I feel its safer to go to Hawaii then Georgia, where masks are not required to be worn. 

For us, we made a smart, thoughtful decision. Hopefully we can travel internationally safely in the future, not the near future, until then, we are going to be sitting on the sidelines for some time. 

Stay safe & healthy folks, Happy New Year. 

4 hours ago, milolii said:

We canceled our Baltic Trip for 2020.  So I know how your feel.   I think 2022 might be reasonable for  a large trip like the Baltic.    I agree with holding off on airfare for now.  There are some polices that give credit but often you need to rebook within a year. So much uncertainty still.  

 

it’s nice your refunds and cancellations went smoothly,.  Good luck to you. 
 

 

We used Cruise Certificates, so they were just credited back to our account. Yes, maybe 2022 will be the time for this cruise. 

We booked a Baltic cruise in 2019 for August 2021, and decided today, rather then plan on making airfare and hotel plans, with the pandemic world wide, we do not see the cruise occurring, and if it did, our ability to tour the various cities safely looks questionable.

We booked with one of the big box stores, I called and got through immediately. The representative mentioned that my cancellation was understandable and quite common. They mentioned that folks were booking for fall 2021, nothing sooner, nor not much longer out at this time.

We had been looking forward to this cruise for years, to be done after my retirement. Wish we could do the cruise, but will see what the future has in store for all of us.

Stay safe and healthy, best wishes for the Holiday Season.

Yesterday the CDC put a halt to cruise ships coming or leaving US ports for 100 days. Guess the cruise ships don't want to take action to address the Coronavirus issue, so the CDC has to come in and do so. 

7 minutes ago, kollegekreed said:

Even though i just bought NCL stock, I’m not convinced, as a taxpayer, that my money house bail out entertainment and hospitality industries...I have the same feeling about the Vegas strip asking for money...I’m very on the fence. I’d rather help the workers than the investors...

Sure, but this does not happen, employees are dismissed, just get the shaft, never happens. After this is over, the CEO's will get awarded hugh bonuses, because things have turned around. Or many times in a bankruptcy, the courts allow them to award themselves bonuses for hanging in there and closing down the Business. I have seen this too many times. 

2 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

yeah, the finances of Ford today is nothing like the Ford of 2008 during the Great Recession.

back then Ford turned down a bailout. it's stock went from $1 to $15 in a couple of years.

 

today, i can see Ford go bankrupt and restructure, wiping out  shareholders.

 

Sure, as well as a lot of other companies, like various cruise lines, no company is invencible. be careful throwing money at stocks, now is not the time to buy, I look for a 15,000 target on the Dow, before this is over. Some may not like the sound of this, call me crazy, but I have seen this scenario play out in 1987, 2001, 2007-8, and again today. Soon you will hear about the bond defaults occurring: companies, cities, states, countries, airport, etc. The unemployment rate will increase, no one is going to want to buy a new car, house, major expenditures. 

Good luck. 

What about Ford, F, its at $4 1/2 today, you can only lose $4 1/2 per share, v.s. $7.77 a share today for NCL.

I wouldn't buy either one today. 

Yes, the markets will eventual move back up, and understand it may take 5-10 years to do so, as well as never get back up to the price where you purchased these at.

Patience, its not time to buy yet, folks get sucked into buying on downturns, we just started down, we have a long ways to go, before the market bottoms, and longer til they start heading back up. Years. 

4 hours ago, PistolPete13 said:

https://www.businessinsider.com/norwegian-cruise-line-cuts-pay-20-amid-coronavirus-cuts-2020-3?fbclid=IwAR1QCB2-408DaM-AgtCnrdt1Jv3rp_CudlUnk87-29nKysr9N0ezhf4YWzg

 

Tough times for all...

 

"Norwegian Cruise Line will cut salaried employee pay by 20% in response to the coronavirus outbreaks, according to a memo sent to staff on Wednesday."

What is going to happen to the CEO's salary packages, which include perks, bonuses, etc?, or are they excluded from this???

Just because the price is low, does not mean its a 'good buy'.

We call this a 'suckers play'. Wait, and you will find out why.

1 hour ago, fstuff1 said:

into the teens ($15/barrel) if saudi and russia cant come to terms before end of march when their production reduction agreement ends.

1st week of april, saudi will be pumping out 20% more oil into an already glutted oil market.

 

and right now, even with the production limits, there's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much of a surplus of oil.

especially now with ALOT less jets flying.

 

Will see won't we. This information may already be priced into the market.

4 minutes ago, Farts said:

bc trump said he would help.

Anyone who believes what he says, gets what they deserve. Good luck there...........

7 minutes ago, upslash said:

I'm trying to decide if I should refund my CruiseNext deposits while I'm still in the 30 day refund period. Starting to seriously wonder if this company will go bankrupt.

Go for it, you can always buy them on the secondary market at any time.

4 minutes ago, ano said:

That isn't always possible or cheap to do.

Look at Boeing, BA, they had plane orders for years. A botched plane, a halted travel industry, factories laying off, cancelled plane orders. That high flyin' stock was up to almost $450 a year ago, today $155, and I wouldn't touch it now. Circumstances can change real fast sometimes. The cruise/travel industry is going to be in trouble for some time. I don't see the government bailing them out, they are foreign registered ships, mostly all foreign workers, why would our government care about them.

3 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

With Saudi and Russia going at oil war, is this a good time to triple short oil at

$31/barrel?

 

Oil was about $65 in early January, I think you are 3 months too late for that move now. There may be more long term gains on the upside, then downside. $25-30 is usually a buying range, rather then a selling range. How much downside is there at this price?????

9 minutes ago, TrulyBlonde said:

OXY div yld right now is great for fixed income too. I bought a lot of COP this week. Own it from prior purchase in 30's and bought more when got back to the number this week. Will look at OXY.

I use to be a commodity broker, and traded oils, still trade them, we will always need oil.

Use to trade PTEN, but it has really fallen out of bed, good company, but doesnt mean it cant go bankrupt. Good luck with COP!✌️

6 minutes ago, Lupush said:

Closed at $9.61

Remember, just because its cheap, does not mean its a good buy. They can only go to zero. After a crash, it may take the markets 8 years to get back up there in price. Back in 1999, SCHW stock got up to 110 on a 1 day blip, never to go there again. Some never do. Be patient.